Australian Fashion Retailers and Designers Ditch Vile Angora

Following the release of video footage shot by a PETA Asia investigator in China – the source of 90 per cent of the world’s angora wool – many of Australia’s top retailers, including Myer, David Jones, Big W, Kmart and Retail Apparel Group, along with more than two dozen Australian designers, including George Wu, Alexi Freeman, Carly Hunter, Peter Alexander, Paolo Sebastian and Collette Dinnigan, have taken the compassionate step of banning angora rabbit wool from their clothing lines.

PETA Asia’s investigator visited angora farms in China, where there are no penalties for animal abuse on rabbit farms and no standards that regulate the treatment of animals. The video shows workers violently ripping the fur from the bodies of screaming rabbits who have been tied by all four legs and stretched across a board. Rabbits, who are highly sensitive social animals, are left to languish in shock and isolation inside tiny, filthy wire-bottom cages after having had their fur ripped off. This cruel and painful process is repeated every three months for two to five years before they’re killed by having their throats cut. In addition to the many Australian designers now turning their backs on angora wool, more than 30 international companies, including PVH Corp – the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, IZOD, ARROW, Van Heusen and other retailers – have permanently halted the production of angora items.

Buying angora supports years of torture for rabbits on fur farms. Take a stand against this cruelty by boycotting angora and all fur, and please ask your friends and family members to do the same.

Posted by Claire Fryer